ADB Briefs
ADB Briefs are based on papers or notes prepared by ADB staff and their resource persons. The series is designed to provide concise, nontechnical accounts of policy issues of topical interest, with a view to facilitating informed debate.
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Insurance for Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises
This brief looks at the important role that better risk management, including insurance, can play in improving access to finance. -
Agriculture Insurance
Agriculture is exposed to a wide variety, complexity, and scale of risks, especially for smallholder farmers, and can be costly to recover from. -
Changing Patterns of Trade and Global Value Chains in Postcrisis Asia
Sophisticated and geographically dispersed global value chains have emerged as an important feature of Asia’s economic success, particularly in East Asia. -
Microfinance Client Protection in Asia and the Pacific: Lessons from ADB-Smart Campaign Training Programs
Microfinance institutions provide small funds and related services to vulnerable groups, and are crucial to helping them escape poverty and sustain businesses. -
Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy
Developing countries in Asia and the Pacific are exploring ways to expand access to affordable financial services to the financially excluded through digital technology. -
Policy Priorities for a More Responsive Technical and Vocational Education and Training System in Cambodia
This policy brief identifies binding constraints and makes recommendations to promote a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system that is more responsive to Cambodia’s labor market needs. -
Strong Supply Chains Transform Public Health
By ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of medicines and commodities, supply chains support healthy populations and regional health security. -
Digital Health Infrastructure: The Backbone of Surveillance for Malaria Elimination
Strong health information systems hold the key to ending malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion. The area is of particular concern because of growing resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies. -
Female Labor Force Participation in Asia: Key Trends, Constraints, and Opportunities
The study investigates trends among women in the workforce, the implications of higher female labor force participation for economic growth, the obstacles in achieving it, and potential policies for reducing these obstacles. -
Policy Brief on Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan
Female labor force participation in Pakistan is still well below levels in other countries with similar incomes despite growing by more than half over the past 2 decades.